All health-care workers should be required to get a flu shot every year, unless they formally refuse in writing, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) said today.
"Voluntary systems haven't brought immunization rates up far enough," Dr. Pavia said, calling for a regimen with "more teeth in it."
...the idea is not new. Health-care workers, for instance, are required to have hepatitis vaccinations.
Policing such a policy...might be linked to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement.
The call for mandatory flu shots for the nation's health-care workers is part of a 12-point program that the society says is critical to prepare for a possible pandemic flu strain.
The society called on the federal government to establish a multinational pandemic influenza vaccine master program, "on the scale of the Apollo lunar project," to work with other countries and the private sector to develop a vaccine. The U.S. should spend at least $2.8 billion for 2007 alone on such a program, the society said.
During a pandemic, the society said, health-care workers will be at increased risk and should get priority access of vaccines and anti-virals.
Priority access to vaccines and antivirals? This is not happening in my state. The State Panflu Plan says there is not enough Tamiflu, so there will be no prophylaxis. Of course, there is no vaccine either, or appropriate and adequate PPE (but no one is mentioning the basics for safety that we will need in this article).
Mandatory...NO!! I got my first ever flu vaccine last year. Due to some personnel changes where I work the vaccinations were not that well advertised or available this year. I did not get one. I have not had the flu in 30+ years.
Never had the flu in my entire life - had a really nasty, month-long reaction to the chicken pox vaccine, though, and now I get shingles on my face. The really stupid thing is, I HAD the chicken pox, nursed all five of my kids through the chicken pox and didn't get it from them because I am immune, but had to get the vaccine anyway, for nursing school, because my titers came back negative. Any body tries to make me get a flu shot, I'll get lawyer first.
I think it should be 100% the choice of the individual. Two years in a row I got the vaccine and still ended up sick as a dog! I know....I know.... "the vaccine cannot make you sick." Anyhoo......that being said, my cardiologist now "insists" that I get vaccinated every year as he says "the flu would be devastating to my health and immune system." Well, I will get vaccinated yearly now until I have another episode of "sick as a dog syndrome" right after the vaccination and then I will be DONE with it.
First, let me say that I don't think that you should be forced to put anything into your body that you don't want. But if they can require other immunizations, why not the flu shot? If nursing homes and other such facilities require the flu shot for their residents, then why can't a hospital require it of their employees in order to keep from spreading it to other employees/patients?
Some have said they've been exposed to the flu and never gotten it themselves. I said that myself one time and guess what? I came down with it that very season I made that remark...the day of leaving for a ski trip and spent the whole weekend in bed instead of on the slopes.
There is NO evidence that clearly shows this reduces incidence of flu among the vulnuralbe population. I generally get my flu shot. We clearly know that we are playing a guessing game that is usually off base when we develop this years strain on vaccine.
If you have clear evidence show me. Show me all the studies. So far no one has come forward with actual solid studies that show anything more than a possible casual relationship that could just as easily be coincidental.
It is coincidental if we occasionally get it right and include the correct strain in this year's vaccine.
Don't take it. Won't take it. Worked 3 yrs part time at nsg home. Mandatory that residents get flu shot unless signed paper refusing. Never saw so many people die in a short time in my life. Did one cause the other? Can't prove it. Legislators seem to be trying to legislate choices they should keep out of. There is, after all, plenty of legitimate work they need to be doing beside getting to personal medical issues.
I am not a nurse as of yet, but my mom is one. No one in my immediate family has ever had a flu shot. None of us plan on ever getting one either. The people that I know that have taken them get much sicker than those of us who don't.
Don't take it. Won't take it. Worked 3 yrs part time at nsg home. Mandatory that residents get flu shot unless signed paper refusing. Never saw so many people die in a short time in my life. Did one cause the other? Can't prove it. Legislators seem to be trying to legislate choices they should keep out of. There is, after all, plenty of legitimate work they need to be doing beside getting to personal medical issues.
Sweet deal for the drug companies who manufacture the stuff, don't you think? They make a hefty profit and get the hospitals and nursing homes to push their product...
Rape, a crime of power, that forces ones will over anothers. Our employer danggles the golden carrot (job) over our nose. Then tells you take this or lose your ability to care for your family. (a knife to your throat) You surrender your will to save your family and then to diminish your soul further they pull up this consent form saying YOU AGREE- the rapist says "you like that" "Can you feel that" and you lay in the shower trying to clean yourself of the crime knowing around the corner your predator will be back.
This is how I feel. And those are the words my abuser told me. My employer told me "anyone refusing to do this will lose their job"
jimthorp
496 Posts
Mandatory...NO!! I got my first ever flu vaccine last year. Due to some personnel changes where I work the vaccinations were not that well advertised or available this year. I did not get one. I have not had the flu in 30+ years.